TABLE OF CONTENTS
About the Author
Katherine Mellen Charron is an Associate Professor of History at North Carolina State University. She is the author of the award-winning Freedom's Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark (UNC Press, 2009), and the co-editor of Recollections of My Slavery Days by William Henry Singleton (1999). Her teaching and research interests include African American, Women's, and Southern history.
Jim Crow Segregation: The Difficult and Anti-Democratic Work of White Supremacy
Primary Sources
Lerner, Gerda, ed. Black Women in White America: A Documentary History. New York: Vintage Books, 1972. This valuable collection of primary documents focuses on writings by black women from slavery into the 1970s. It has 10 sections, divided topically and proceeding chronologically. Documents detail education, employment, clubwomen's efforts to combat sexual stereotypes and sexual harassment, interracial relations among women, and reflections on black womanhood.
Smith, S., Ellis K. , and Sascha Asianian. Remembering Jim Crow [CD]. St. Paul, MN: American Public Media. This site is based on the Behind the Veil oral history project, sponsored by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, and subsequent multimedia publication, Remembering Jim Crow, edited by William H. Chafe, Raymond Gavins, and Robert Korstad. The main content is divided into six parts; each includes audio clips from the oral histories and a link to a photographic slideshow. The home page also features a "Read personal histories of segregation" link to transcripts from oral histories conducted by American Radio Works that are organized by category; and a link to a related documentary on African Americans' use of radio to fight racism during World War II. Other links on the home page provide a sample of state laws, by category, and access to additional online and print resources.
Wells, Ida B. Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900. Edited by Jacqueline Jones Royster. New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 1996. Former school teacher and African American journalist Ida B. Wells singlehandedly launched the anti-lynching movement in the United States after two of her personal friends were among three men lynched in Memphis, TN. This slender volume introduces readers to Wells and reprints three primary documents on racial violence that she authored. Its appendices present a chronology of Wells' life, questions to guide discussions, and an annotated bibliography.
James Allen and John Littlefield collection. Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America. 2005. Note: This site contains graphic images that may not be suitable for all ages. The site grows out of a traveling museum exhibit and subsequent book of lynching photographs and postcards that were once routinely sent through the U.S. mail. The images cover a wide geographical area but range mainly from the 1880s to the 1920s. Viewers can choose to see them in a Flash movie with commentary by James Allen or as a gallery of still photographs, with a link providing additional details for each. The site also includes a searchable visitor discussion forum. The use of these images must be accompanied by discussions that provide historical context that shows the objectification of the black body and considerations of whom or what is not pictured.
Educational Broadcasting Corporation. Wormser, R., Jersey, B., and Sam Pollard (producers). The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. 2002. This site offers premier pedagogical resources for history and literature teachers, including full lesson plans, and a plethora of activities for middle and high school students. Its main features revolve around interactive maps; an interactive timeline with corresponding essays; oral histories; and a section on presidents, Congresses, and the Supreme Court. The site combines the material in ways that encourage student use of primary documents and roleplaying.